Can you give some recomendations for hardening and tempering a damascus blade forged from 1084 and 15N20. Teh blade would be used for skinning and general cutting as encountered during hunting and camping.

Brian, I'm not Ed but I do use the 1084-15n20 mix for my damascus and heat treat by going to critical (non-magnetic),soak for a few seconds depending on blade thickness, quench(I use veg. oil) @ about 160deg., and temper @ 425 for 1 hr. ,I hope this helps,also Admiral has the tempering info on the 10** steels on their site. Good Luck , Mike

Brian, I don't do any polishing before treating my blades, I go from the oil straight to the oven,I try to keep the time for cooling down between the quench and tempering.I think I remember reading somewhere to do the temper as soon after quench as possible. This is just the way I do it,I clean the blade up after temper and do the brass rod test. Good Luck,Mike

Brian,
At that temp you'll be into the blue tones on the oxide colors. You may think you've gone too far if you judge the colors, as it might appear a light blue.....the blade is just fine. Make sure you have the oven at 425 (use a thermometer) and everything should be fine.

__________________

Caffreyknives@gmail.com"Nobody cares what you know.....until they know you care."See me at table 2Q at the Blade Show!

What do you guys temper straight 1084 at usually. I had edge chipping at 375 degrees on a neck knife which is the temp Greg Covington and Bruce Bump both use (Greg's knives are large combat models, would the edge geometry make a difference?) I had to go up to 400 degrees before the edge chipping moderated and I suspect higher might have been better.

In the 1084/15N20 mix is the 425 degree tempering taylored to one of the metals in particular or is it a happy medium for both?

Yes, I also thought 375 sounded pretty low for 1084. I would start no lower than 400 and probably wind up somewhere between 415-425. But this all depends on individual shops and equipment, as quenched hardness of the steel, etc.

One more comment, regardless of the temperature one chooses, there is no harm and very much potential good that will come from tempering three separate times for 1.5 to 2 hours per time.

I just started playing with Damascus (1080 and 15N20). I forged some scraps into 1/4in square X 3in long (Tapered from center to 1/8in.) They are designed after some chisels I got from Japan. My question is: would it be best to oil harden them or oven temp them? I will be using them for chasing and repousse tools..

I'm not sure that I understand your question. Regardless one needs to austenize and quench the steel to achieve full hardness and then tempered to reduce the hardness and brittleness, though one reference that I have states that repousse' tools do not have to be hardened. It's optional. It's also going to depend on the metal that you are working with. If working with aluminum, copper, brass or bronze you might well get away without hardening and tempering your tools. For iron and soft steel I would think that you would want your tools to be harder. Maybe someone who has actually done these techniques might chime in or maybe you could find a board that deals with these arts and ask there.

Doug

__________________
If you're not making mistakes then you're not trying hard enough